


My Body Is a Temple

by theorangewitch



Series: Angstober [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Possession, Recovery, emetophobia warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 20:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16182320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theorangewitch/pseuds/theorangewitch
Summary: Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes were sunken into her skull, her face was covered in cuts and bruises, and her lips were chapped and peeling. Her skin was as dark as she remembered, but it had a gray, dusky tone to it. She looked like a corpse. But not only that.





	My Body Is a Temple

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 of Angstober - Mind Control. Or rather, possession. Or post-possession, whatever. Starring my traumatized Blood Hunter. 
> 
> I've decided to post every day of the 31 Day Angst Challenge here, for posterity's sake. I'm having fun here. Check the author's note of the previous work for the link to the challenge.

 

When Poppy’s eyes opened, they opened for the first time in years. The first thing she did after waking up was shoot her hand out and latch onto the first thing within her reach, which was the shirt of the woman leaning over her. The second thing she did was use said shirt as an anchoring point so she could lean over the side of the table she was lying on and vomit all over the floor. Her vision was circling around itself, the tiles on the floor doubling up, but she could see plain as day that her vomit wasn’t a normal color or consistency. It was bright purple. It looked like paint. 

The sight of it made her vomit again. 

The woman slowly unhooked Poppy’s fingers from her shirt, dabbing her forehead with a wet cloth, and Poppy took in the world around her. She wasn’t lying on a table, as she’d initially thought, but an altar. It was old, with a large crack running down the center and the corners of it chipped away. Above it loomed a statue, possibly of a woman, who was cut off from the waist up. Behind her was a demolished wall, from which sunlight filtered in and a stream of water trickled through and pooled around her feet. 

“A ruined temple,” she deduced. 

“Indeed,” the woman tending her said, and it was only then that Poppy realized she’d made the statement aloud. “A monument to The Raven Queen, long abandoned. Now it is my home.” 

Poppy turned to look at her. She was in her sixties, if not older, with weathered cinnamon skin and wild gray hair. 

“I assume you are not The Violet Night, but the woman who owns the body it was controlling?”

_ The Violet Night _ . Those three words shook Poppy to her core, all of her memories, her last concrete memories coming rushing back. She forced down another round of vomit. 

“Here.” The woman held out her hands and helped Poppy off of the altar. Poppy wobbled on her legs, which were not only weak but longer and more awkward than she remembered. “My name is Anu.”

“Poppy,” Poppy replied. 

“Possession is the sincerest form of mind control. The complete loss of bodily autonomy, down to the loss of sensory functions,” Anu explained. “This  _ thing  _ that called itself The Violet Night had deep roots in you. The priest in town couldn’t do anything, which is why they sent for me.”

Anu lead Poppy to a pile of pillows and blankets in the corner of the temple. Poppy had to lean on her and the wall in order to even stay upright. Her head rang with a deep, thudding ache. “Here,” Anu said. “Lie down.” 

Poppy obliged, marveling at the softness of the blankets on her skin. They were old, worn things, but they were unfamiliar around her. The last time she’d been in a bed felt distant. She pondered over Anu’s words.  _ Possession _ . Deep down, she knew she’d been possessed. Even in the empty, dreamless slumber she’d been in, she’d known. Her skin felt loose and uncomfortable as she settled into the makeshift bed. It was if it had been stretched and hadn’t snapped back into place in quite the right way. 

“Anu?” she said. Her voice wasn’t hoarse from disuse, but her words word. Her mouth struggled to form around them. 

“Yes?” Anu replied.

“You said that the cleric in town couldn’t. He couldn’t. Help. Exorcise me. But you did. How?”

Anu sighed, her back curling over. “I was hoping not to have to discuss this so soon. You’re still weak. Still coming to your senses. I gave you a poison, for lack of a better word. One that most people do not take lightly. Without careful consideration. It is toxic to humans, but even more toxic to monsters. It drove whatever the entity inside of you was right out. But I have a question for you, Poppy. What is the last date you remember?”

Poppy struggled for a moment. Her head was filled with a soupy fog, one that she couldn’t parse through. “I don’t know,” she finally said.

“Then what is the last age you remember being?”

That one was easier. “Thirteen,” she answered. Ten when the Goldenflower siblings came. Eleven when she and her parents moved into their ranch. Twelve when her parents converted to their strange religion, worshiping the entity they called The Violet Night. Thirteen when they designated her as its vessel, and kidnapped her from her bed in the middle of the night for this use. 

Anu’s eyes widened. “Oh no,” she murmured. “No wonder its connection with you was so deep.” 

“What is it?” Poppy was almost afraid to ask. 

Anu dug around in her robes for a moment, then pulled out a compact mirror and handed it to Poppy. Poppy clicked it open and almost immediately dropped it. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eyes were sunken into her skull, her face was covered in cuts and bruises, and her lips were chapped and peeling. Her skin was as dark as she remembered, but it had a gray, dusky tone to it. She looked like a corpse. But not only that. She was old. Not thirteen anymore, not a teenager at all. She was easily a young adult, if not older. 

“I’m sorry, Poppy,” Anu said. “It seems you were possessed for at least a decade, maybe more.” 


End file.
